Coming back to the world and plugging in again in these times is interesting. I know that the best thing I can do in response to all the upsetting news I read is to embody love and hope and thoughts that feel good so that I can spread love and hope in all I do. But how do I find good feeling thoughts from here?
This is what I’ve come up with. The most positive story that I can tell myself about the state of things:
America is not well. As a nation, we are diseased. Thanks to the prevalence of smart phones, we now have better awareness of this than ever before. The hate and violence aren’t new, but the fact that everyone has video cameras in their pocket that broadcast out to the whole world in real time is new. So that’s a good thing! Diseases are much easier to treat once they’ve been thoroughly detected and examined.
I’m also glad that we are all affected so much by what we’re seeing. That even though violence keeps happening, we’re not getting desensitized, shrugging it off, or giving up. From what I can see and hear, we really care! We’re only becoming more and more clear and vocal that we do not want ANYONE to feel afraid to be who they are. We’re simply not going to stand for it.
This week there were millions and millions of peaceful interactions between Americans. So many times where people, no matter their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, views on gun control, or whether or not they work in law enforcement, interacted with each other without any violence at all. If you zoom out from the headlines and look at our country as a whole, there is so, so, soooooo much more light than darkness. So many people are living in peaceful corporation with each other in every single town. In fact it’s because we have such a widespread culture of peace and love and respect overall that we find these incidences of violence so upsetting and intolerable.
And still, we are very clear that this is not good enough. We want ALL people to experience the peace, love, respect, and justice they deserve. No exceptions. And that’s what this is really about. The reason the bad news is everywhere this week is because we will not tolerate it. We can’t stop talking about it. We want better.
And it is getting better. The people who are destined to heal us from the diseases of hate and fear that lead to violence, are right now being inspired to follow that destiny. And the leaders who will help us organize the healing, are also being called forward. It’s already happening, right now. We are healing…and all this chaos is evidence of that.
So yeah, I’m outraged too. But I’m determined to find ways to feel good and hopeful. Because it’s the only way I know now.
When I think of it this way, I feel better in my body and my heart. And that makes it a lot easier to be peaceful and loving in all my interactions. It also makes it easier to hear my own inspirations and the ways that I’m called to bring light to the world, and it gives me more energy to follow those inspirations. Which is good, because I can’t make much progress when I’m laying around depressed about how bad things are. Or when I’m burning up all my energy on outrage.
What we focus on expands. Let’s focus on love and hope and peace. Find a way to feel it in your heart, right now. Keep coming back to it no matter what happens.
Let’s love each other through this.
